The invention relates to a connection arrangement for connecting two profiled elements in a seamless and aerodynamically smooth manner in order to form a profiled surface around which a laminar flow is possible, to a method for producing the connection arrangement, and to a device for carrying out the method.
The joining methods used today in aircraft construction usually consist of bolt connections with tolerances of approximately 0.1 mm. This is not a problem because the manufacturing tolerances for components made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic and metal are usually above this value. Thus, conventional connection designs, for example, of noses on aircraft wings, have tolerances of more than 0.3 mm, which are sufficient for aerodynamic profiles with turbulent flow.
However, there is an increasing tendency in aircraft development to reduce fuel consumption. For this purpose, it would be desirable to lengthen the region of laminar flow on profiled surfaces in the flow direction, which can be done, for example, by suctioning a boundary layer. For profiled surfaces around which there is a laminar flow these tolerances are too high by approximately one order of magnitude. For example, if a titanium nose with an incorporated pump for boundary layer suctioning is attached to a wing profiled section made of carbon or glass fiber reinforced plastic, then the transition from the titanium nose to the plastic box has to be configured to be extremely gentle, and it has to have tolerances of less than 0.05 mm. This is not achievable with the currently available manufacturing and production possibilities.